2:44 PM.
On a Monday afternoon.
I have spent hours today watching my 17 month old niece.
She can’t nap because today happens to be the day where she outgrew her crib.
Factor in a late work day start – up until midnight last night working – and you have a jam-packed busy day that became busier with that little bundle of energy running around for 4 hours.
I still published a post on my blog. I also published one other guest post.
I wrote and published a travel page on my blog. I recorded a video for Facebook and The Huffington Post.
I checked my email.
Now I am writing and publishing this post.
I will write and publish posts to Medium, The Huffington Post and LinkedIn shortly.
I will also network for a few hours.
How?
Writing is no issue for me. Writing is easy to me.
But only after I spent every day over the course of years practicing my writing.
I did not become a pro blogger effortlessly. Nothing came easy to me. But I rarely made the assumption that kills most blogging careers by cutting ’em out at the knees.
The Dangerous Blogging Assumption
Most new or struggling bloggers mistakenly assume that blogging always came easy to established pro bloggers. Even worse? The lost masses feel that we do not face struggles, or obstacles, or resistance, or that we do not navigate the day to day stuff that many bloggers cower to.
I could have tossed blogging aside today due to Niece Watch. My niece is a highly active, intelligent, energized little kid that does not stop moving for hours. Toss in the fact that she went all Houdini on us by edging out of her crib and it meant my wife Kelli and I had to watch her for hours.
In between points where she was eating or Kelli was on Niece Watch I got some solid work done. Right now, my sister in law is downstairs, picking her daughter up. Instantly, here I am writing the guest post on Blogging Tips. No excuses. Not easy, but that’s how we do it.
Assuming Bloggers
Assuming bloggers would believe that writing was always easy for me. But it was not. I ran into writer’s block after writing 300 words. But eventually I wrote up to 20,000 words daily because I practiced writing every day for years of my life.
Assuming bloggers believe blogging is not easy for them, nor will it ever be easy, and they quit outright or struggle for years, allowing their false assumption to win, refusing to practice their writing skills, and avoiding the persistent practice that makes any uncomfortable process easy over the long haul.
The Solution
3,000 videos ago I looked like a deer in the headlights.
Now look at me:
I am natural, calm, confident and genuine on camera. Shooting 3,000 videos will do that. Practicing for years will do that.
If some blogger appears to do something easily, rest assured that they gave much of their lives to honing some skill over years.
Naturals do not exist. Persistent bloggers who follow their passion and practice their writing skills make things look easy after years of daily practice.
Do not make excuses about your blogging failures based on ridiculous assumptions about pro bloggers. A pro simply practiced a skill for years until the skill became easy.
Commit to being a successful blogger. Stop assuming things came easy to blogging big dawgs. The creme of the blogging crop may make things look easy but it wasn’t like that in the beginning. Only after year’s worth of daily, diligent practice, especially when things feel kinda uncomfortable during those days where your energy is a bit off.
Your Turn
Have you ever assumed things come easily to established pro bloggers?